


Blessed

by Hessanite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU where the sun and moon deposit energy to Earth which keeps balance in magical forces, Altea and Galra are kingdoms, Fantasy AU, Kinda has Avatar-esque themes, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Originally based on Tangled, Shiro and Keith are brothers, StealthMaster!Pidge, ThiefMaster!Shiro, Wizard!Lance, everyone is human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-17 22:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10603881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hessanite/pseuds/Hessanite
Summary: Every twenty years, two people marked by the Sun and the Moon give back the energy given to the Earth.Traditionally, this was acomplished through sacrifice.For decades though, the Altean Wizards have been developing a ritual- to give the energy of the Sun and Moon back without killing the Blessed ones.Keith, the Sun-Blessed, and Allura, the Moon-Blessed, both have reasons to attempt the ritual, and are fighting to keep out of the hands of Galra elite forces.Then Keith runs right into a young Altean ex-wizard with pretty blue eyes, and working for his long-lost older brother as a thief.





	1. Watery Gaze

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wanted a Tangled AU...  
> It got mixed up with Avatar: The Last Airbender a bit.  
> So now it has distinct themes from both, but is originated in neither universe.  
> I really hope you like!

_Every twenty years, two children are born and Blessed by the Sun and Moon, with powers ranging from the elemental to the mystical. The Blessed grow and learn until their energy fully peaks, and are traditionally sacrificed to return the stored energy to the Sun and Moon, that the cycle may repeat and keep the Earth healthy and stable._

_But tragedy struck the Altean King's own daughter, infant Princess Allura, when a silver mark in the shape of a crescent moon formed on her forehead and her hair turned white, marking her as Moon-Blessed. Grief roiled over the kingdom, and the nations were convinced the princess would be promptly disinherited, as she would surely die too young to leave suitable heirs, when the King made a revolutionary announcement._

_He intended to change the cycle, to find a way to release the energies of the Blessed without killing them._

_The Galra Empire instantly took issue, demanding tradition be followed despite Alfor's personal ties to the current Moon-Blessed._

_Should their demands be unanswered, war would follow._

_And so war followed, even as Alfor began his quest to save his daughter's life, and that of the undiscovered Sun-Blessed._

_Eventually, the fourteen-year old Allura was sent into hiding to prevent assassins from targetting her, but the unthinkable happened when she lost contact with her messengers, and vanished._

_\---:::---_

Keith woke with a startled gasp when a cool dark hand brushed his brow, and only the faint shimmer of white hair kept him from attacking.

Confusion fuzzed through sleep-hazed thoughts as he blinked up at Allura, his only trusted companion for almost six years now. The sun wasn't up, why was she?

And more importantly, why wake him?

: _There are a group of soldiers nearby. They set off my wards.:_

Keith grimaced, then shook her hand away, silencing the telepathic bond they shared through touch. They had just found this campsite a few days ago! A secluded and ivy-hung cavern, kept scent-free through Allura's combined water and air magic, and visibly empty and unsafe through Keith's knowledge of the wilderness.

Their bags were packed through habit, one for each of them, since neither was used to being in one place for more than a few weeks at a time anymore, near the back entrance of the cave- an artificial affair Keith could close in less that thirty seconds if he had to.

More awake now, he held out a hand to Allura, noting how her normally blue eyes were glowing silver like a cat's as she made contact again.

: _Like you have room to talk. Your eyes are little lanterns for all to see!:_

 _:How far off are the soldiers?:_ Allura's wards worked at night, while Keith's activated during the day, and both could track whoever set off their respective wards.

Allura hummed, barely audible.  _:Not-:_ Her face spasmed with reaction, and she turned towards the entrance as if magnetized, vibrating with sudden tension.  _:Quiznak, the soldiers are being attacked! By a group of thieves, it seems?:_

Keith inhaled sharply, eyes widening. Allura had implied...  _:You didn't sense them until they attacked?:_

 _:No, I did not.:_ Concern darkened Allura's eyes, dimming the magical luminescence. And, through their physical contact, Keith sensed an undercurrent of fear.

In Keith's mental background, he cursed angrily. Only two things didn't set off Allura's wards: Keith himself, and a shielding wizard.

And wizards were bad news, no matter who they were, because they could sense Keith and Allura's Blessed auras through physical contact.

 _:Let's go,:_ He snarled silently, then pulled away to grab his bag. The strap was more replacement than original at this point (Keith wasn't the easiest on his belongings sometimes), but he kept it slung crossways over his chest, pulling his old jacket over it to keep it from slipping away. Allura's own bag was a ragged backpack, tied over her chest with straps to keep it secure, since she didn't use jackets for the sake of warmth.

Not two minutes later, the tunnel was sealed shut behind them, and they had only their magic-lit eyes to see with, though that was plenty for both of them.

Keith let loose a ragged breath, nervous despite the experience they both had with escaping imminent danger.

Allura and her ambushed royal caravan, as she fled into roaring winter snowstorms while Galra forces sought her life.

Keith, kidnapped as a child by a Galra witch, using his partial knowledge of the forest's hidden secrets to drug her and hide from her potent magic.

They were  _used_ to this, but the anxiety it induced never faded.

Allura brushed her fingers over his wrist, impressing  _comfort,alliance,imherewithyou,_ her emotions seeping under his paler skin like the water she controlled. He flickered a smile back at her.

Some sixth sense suddenly triggered, and he yanked the both of them to the dusty rock floor, covering Allura's distinctive hair with the edge of his jacket.

The ceiling rumbled threateningly, and Keith reinforced it with earth magic, breath catching against the dust, and he could feel Allura spasm slightly against the urge to cough.

: _Horses?:_ Allura couldn't sense animals, unless they were magical or magically bound. Keith frowned, then cautiously stood back up, even more on edge.

 _:Horses without riders? Thieves would try to take the horses to sell or ride, not let them loose. And any wizard can compel them to stay, if they can do shielding like that.:_ Anxiety rose up in Allura, and he pulled free again before the emotions could rebound, react to his own.

The first time  _that_ had happened had not been fun.

They reached the end of the tunnel without further incident, but it  _grated_ on Keith's nerves, like chalk rock on slate, the lack of...something.

But what?

The tunnel came out into a sheltered, secluded grove, thick undergrowth and dense trees making it seem impenetrable to the average human. Keith closed up the tunnel entrance with a soft grunt, beginning to feel the strain of using his magic too much.

_Damnit, stupid magical endurance._

His powers were so much  _weaker_ than Allura's. And the one person he could blame was far out of harm's way, probably still glutted with his Blessed magic.

Allura grabbed his wrist, burst of frantic energy setting off every impulse he had.

_:They come this way! The wizard isn't shielding!:_

Keith snarled under his breath. Both of them had only the most rudimentary education in actual magic, and shielded their auras instinctively. The wizard could probably sense them, drawn like a moth to their pure energies.

Allura angled herself towards the thinnest point in the undergrowth, grip tightened on her long staff, her weapon of choice.

Not the most assuming weapon until you knew she was a master, the staff had metal caps, and she could shoot lightning.

Keith drew his sword silently, hoping the gleam of metal wasn't too visible. It was sometimes hard to judge just how dark it really was.

 Crunching bracken, leaves, branches. The duo tensed, weapons held ready.

The trees were gradually backlit by a dim blue werelight, flickering in time with the footsteps.

Keith's glowing golden eyes narrowed. So, the human wizard was coming to play by themself, eh?

His grip shifted slightly, more secure.  _We'll see._

Most wizards lacked the time or energy to learn weaponskills along with magic. Keith and Allura had skills bron from need, the drive to survive.

Not even the most luckless thief-wizard tended to bother.

Though, wasn't there a saying that luckless thieves weren't thieves for long?

The werelight vanished, and Allura lets out a startled gasp a moment later. Her rich silver-lit eyes caught his, wide.

"They shielded," She hissed, barely audible.

A flash of blue light in the corner of his eye, and Keith ducked down even as Allura used her staff to smash the enchanted rock from the air, almost hitting his head.

Keith bared his teeth. "Too scared to stand up and fight us proper?" The loud taunt gave away their location, true, but the wizard already knew where they were.

More glowing blue rocks were flung, from seemingly random directions, at blinding speeds. Allura's staff whipped about, redirecting and bunting the stones even as Keith used magic to protect the blade of his sword.

 _Damnit, why didn't I do that already?!_ His enchantments were lousy, lasting barely ten minutes most of the time.

But his sword could stand a flesh-fight. Magic-propelled rocks, moving too quickly and too entrenched in the enemy's magic for him to redirect, were a different matter.

Allura missed a stone, shrieked as it struck her in her solar plexus and knocked her to the ground, wheezing, even as she passed out from hitting her head on a previously fallen rock.

Keith gave up on his faltering enchantment and grabbed her staff, less experienced with the polearm. 

The staff did its job, so long as he could keep up with the increasing barrage of earth. He was beginning to strain, gasping, as the reminder of the night began to bleed into morning.

The sun's glare didn't bother him, but he was slowing down, and a rock finally got through his defense and struck his shoulder hard enough to hear something  _snap,_ and it  _hurt._

He was flung bonelessly to the ground, struggling to get enough air as blue-aura-encased rocks pined him down.

"Whew, what a match! That was awesome!"

Blue eyes, still faintly glowing from residual magic, came into Keith's field of view.

_Oh._


	2. Camping In Greener Fields

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before you wonder, there is literally nothing to the chapter titles.  
> Also, thank you for reading!

Keith glared at the young wizard before him.

He couldn't even make his eyes flicker gold, thanks to the obsidian and iron magical restraints clamped to his wrists, and he couldn't escape without leaving Allura. He couldn't climb either, shoulder royally fucked up by that rock.

There were bounties on the Altean princess's head, no way was he leaving her when she couldn't defend herself.

She was slumped a distance away, against the cliff wall, while their captor set up a glowing blue Wisp spell- a common messaging spell designed to quickly relay information.

"Yo, Blue here. I captured two people near the Baseti cliffline, in that funky clearing Yellow found yesterday. They are magic-users, so I have them restrained, buuut I  _might_ have gone a little overboard, cuz I knocked the girl out. So, come find me, cuz I doubt the other one is gonna be cooperative." A flicker of electric blue, brighter than Blue's baseline cobalt, and the glowing orb vanished with a minute pop.

"Damn straight," Keith snarled softly.

Blue grinned over his shoulder at the restrained magic-user, eyes still glowing slightly. "I am not gonna hurt you, you know." Keith frowned, noting the faint accent clipping the wizard's words.

"You're Altean?" That could be good news... or very, very bad. Not every Altean cared for Alfor's plans for the Blessing Festivals, the ceremony to revitalize natural magic (and, traditionally, to end the Sun and Moon-Blessed's lives).

Eyebrows only a few shades darker than the boy's skin rose to the messy hairline, and a slow smirk formed. "Problem with that, Mullet?"

Keith  _glowered._ "No."

Blue shrugged nonchalantly, then winced slightly as his right shoulder jerked.

Keith would've missed it if he'd blinked, but he kept his face impassive. If Allura would just wake up, the wizard's injury (from the fight with the soldiers? But wizards  _hated_ close combat, how could anyone land a hit on him?) could be capitalized on, and the duo could escape together.

Blue looked over his own shoulder, eyes glowing again. "Ugh, that will be fun," He muttered.

A moment later, and there was an impressive, if grisley, display of someone putting their own shoulder back into place.

Something twisted in the restrained teen's stomach. Fun indeed. His own shoulder still hurt like hell, and it throbbed sympathetically.

Crunching bracken, and Keith snapped his head towards the sound just as a tall, broad young man with near-black hair and dark skin entered the clearing. He wore a yellow tunic, just as Blue wore one his namesake color. That twisted spot in his gut turned sour, and he glared.

Allura was still unconscious, and both of them were restrained.

They weren't getting away now.

The new person gave Keith and Allura a once-over, eyes warm and brown. "Blue, why didn't you ask Black for backup? We have plenty of Wisp vials, you  _can_ communicate with us."

Wisp vials? What the hell were those?

Blue looked distinctly sulky, face incredibly expressive. "They might have gotten away! If I had waited, I might have let Galra agents through the territory line."

Keith snarled, catching both thieves' attention. "What does it say about your 'waiting' when we've been here for days already?"

"That you could show us a thing or two about hiding out," The taller of the two said, hands raised placatingly, a compromise.

Allura stirred, and Keith scooted closer to her.

Yellow blinked, focusing on her. "Y'know, we can tell you're injured. We can give you some healing care, no problem. What's your guys' names?"

Keith kept silent.

Yellow bit his lower lip, forehead creasing. "We...We aren't going to hurt you two, you know. I mean, Lance here goes overboard, but we aren't going to...torture you or anything."

Lance? The restrained teenager shot a look at Blue, who was looking at Yellow with a half-scandalized, half-tense expression.

"What is  _your_ name?"

"Hunk," The yellow-clad thief responded, smile like sunshine.

"...My name is Keith." 

\---:::---

The thieves' camp was a ramshackle affair of a few large and low buildings (an abandoned logging fort, Hunk said) and a collection of tents, all dyed a mottled grey-green and arranging to blend into the area at a casual glance. There was a low fire in the center of the camp, where a cauldron hung over and emitted familiar and delicious scents.

A stew? It made sense, something you could throw together and leave for long periods of time, and the ingredients were easy to find. Whatever it was, Keith's stomach acknowledged the scent.

Hey, Allura had never had to cook before she was forced into hiding, and Keith was only a very plain cook himself,  _and_ neither of them had eaten since dinner the night before. He was hungry, and he liked the smell.

There weren't many people in the camp as of yet; a trio of people eating and talking in the open dining hall, basically a roof on legs to provide shelter from rain, Keith guessed.

Something about the shape of the tallest...was familiar.

"Hunk! Lance!"

The voice froze Keith in his tracks.

Wait. That...Surely not?

The tallest, a pale man with broad shoulders and dark hair, paced closer to the group of four. Hunk was carrying the injured Allura in his arms, while Lance kept a firm grip on Keith's uninjured shoulder.

The man stopped dead as well, grey eyes wide with shock at the sight of Keith.

Because the man recognized Keith, just as Keith recognized him.

"Shiro?!" The name burst out, and the man let out a hitched breath in response.

"Keith." His name was breathed out softly, almost like a prayer. Like Keith was nothing more than a mirage.

"Do...you two know each other, Shiro?" Lance's tone was almost brittle, but the restrained magic-user didn't spare him so much as a glance.

Stars, when had he last seen Shiro? He wasn't much younger than Allura, he'd been nearly twelve when he saw him last. Shiro looked...subtly different.

His dark hair had visibly greyed, and there was a white patch in his black bangs. He had faint worry lines about his eyes, and-the most visible change after the hair-a scar ran over the bridge of his nose in a perfectly straight line.

What had Shiro been up to?

Besides the obvious, working with a group of thieves.

The older man had seen  _wars,_ it looked like.

Shiro's eyes adbruptly refocused, and he seemed to shiver back to full control. "Release them. Keith wouldn't work for Galra if you held a dagger to his throat."

Lance blinked, but a moment later Keith felt the cuffs release, easing the strain on his injured shoulder. "How do you know each other, Shiro?" His repeated question earned him a slightly irritated look from Keith.

"Keith's my little brother."

"Wait, really?" The other two people had followed Shiro, and it was the shorter of the two who spoke. They had tawny-brown curls and caramel-colored eyes, and were pale and freckled in their worn green tunic. The other was a broad-shouldered woman wearing a soft grey tunic, who had instantly oriented towards Allura.

"Yes." Shiro stepped closer, reaching towards Keith before stopping himself, as if the teenager might vanish at the contact.

Keith shifted, grabbed Shiro's extended arm.

Shiro's dormant silver-purple aura hummed in his grip, as unchanged as the day he had been taken from him. Your aura could not be replicated, and only magical interference could alter it.

He sighed softly, moving closer.

His older brother yanked him into a hug.

Keith gave the man three seconds before muttering, "Ow."

Shiro pulled back just enough for Keith's shoulder to stop hurting, but kept within arm's reach.

The broad-shouldered woman in grey caught his attention with a nervous flutter of one hand, amber eyes gleaming. "Your friend shall rest well, and awaken come next morning. May I help with your wounds?" 

He hesitated, glancing at Shiro from the corner of his eye. She used magic- he could feel it like a baby-teal hum in the air, so intense her healer's nature made tension bleed from his spine. If she used her magic, she could easily sense his nature as a Sun-Blessed.

Wait, had she healed Allura magically? That wasn't ethical, but it was sometimes required to save a person's life. No, he decided, she hadn't.

Shiro nodded an assurance.  _I trust her._

"What's your name?" He grimaced as she blinked.

"I am Shay. This one," She gestured to the androgynous brunette beside her, " is Pidge."

Pidge offered a hand, caramel eyes intense behind their wire-held lenses. This close, Keith could see the wrinkled and stained marks on their green tunic. "Hello."

Keith took their hand after a moment, firm shake and done. "I'm Keith," He said. The dormant dark, dark green aura the person sported surprised him.

He turned back to Shay. "I...don't enjoy magical healing," He partially lied. To most, the warmth and relaxation associated with healing magic was, well, a balm. Having magic ennacted on him however, was painful and raw-feeling.

Being Blessed did not come without problems, obviously.

Shay nodded. "I don't need to use magic to heal."

Indeed she didn't. He exposed his shoulder, wincing at the bruises. Nothing was broken, thankfully, but it still  _hurt._

Lance whistled at the sight, leaning in. "Wow, sorry about that. Did  _not_ mean to hit you so hard. Ouch."

\---:::---

Keith sat next to Allura, body tense.

The Moon-Blessed princess snored softly, much to his amusement, curled slightly on her side, a worn and patched (but clean) brownish blanket laid over her slender figure.

It was nearing midnight on their first day in the Thieves' Alliance camp before Allura's silver-glowing eyes opened, looking briefly confused before she focused.

She swallowed, and he handed her a water canteen, which she accepted gratefully.

_:We're safe?:_

_:Yes, I think. We're...guests? of a thief campout. My brother seems to be a prominent member.:_

Allura's eyebrows rose.  _:Your brother? Does he know about us? Our Blessed nature?:_

Keith nodded.  _:At least, he knows about me. He probably suspects you for the Moon-Blessed, but I haven't told him. Not many people with Altean-white hair,:_ He teased.

Allura huffed softly, but her dimples began to show, proving her amused.  _:Do you wish to stay?:_

And now Keith hesitated. He did, he really did. But it was... risky at worst, temporary at best. Allura trusted his judgements, his gut feelings, just as he trusted her near-bred diplomatic attitude and magical intuition. If he wanted to stay, she would stay with him.

And, with the shock of reunion over and done with, Keith had had time to think. Could he trust someone he hadn't seen in so many years? Even if this was his brother?

He wasn't sure. The admission clenched in his chest.

 _:I suggest we stay a few days at least,:_ Allura suggested, following his thoughts and internal conflict as if he'd talked it out. Her long fingers briefly clenched on his own, reassuring.

Keith sighed. "Okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is short, but it's mostly character intros, so please bear with me?  
> And a little peek into magic headcannons.  
> I swear there's more going on the next chapter...


End file.
